The brandgym blog

Brand Stretch – Tom the Marketoonist hits the nail on the head , again

Guest post from David Nichols, brandgym's head of invention.

Here is another brilliant cartoon from our friend and marketoonist Tom Fishburne, this time on Brand Stretch. 

Funny, eh.

But you would be amazed by how many real life examples there are that are just as crazy. We call it "Brand Ego Tripping". Remember Cosmopolitan Yoghurts, Levi’s Suits or even Bic Perfume?

To avoid heading off on your own brand ego trip, it helps to look not only at the branding issues, but also at the business model.

1. Can we make money?

Does the "size of the prize" justify the resources and investment you need to put behind a new launch? And that means profit, not just sales.

And can you win vs. aggressive competitors who will be defending their turf?

These are tough but necessary questions to address before you even start thinking about your brand ambitions. When entering mobile phones, Apple were clear that there was a real business opportunity at the top end smartphone sector. They also knew they had a hardcore fanbase who would support them at the start. They now make more money from phones than computers.

2. Can we add value for consumers?

Just doing a me-too product with a new brand will not win over consumers. You have to add real value vs. competitors in a relevant way and it has to come naturally from your brand. Dove brought their ‘quarter moisturising’ benefit from soap bars in to shower gels, shampoo and deo. It was different and relevant for people and came directly for their well established brand equity.

3. Do we have credibility?

Will consumers even bother to try your new product? If you lack credibility in consumer’s eyes in the new category then it’s going to be an expensive, uphill struggle to get trial. When Special K launched into cereal bars their core consumers had no qualms trying the new product. Special K bars are now a significant new business.

In summary, to avoid your own costly brand ego trip, ask not "can our brand stretch". And instead ask "can we make any money".

Last Places for Brand Leadership Workout - 13th October

Most of the 100 places have sold out for the brandgym event at the The London Business Forum on the morning of Thursday 13th October. But there are some places left.

And don't forget, as a friend of the brandgym you can get 10% off the usual (already very reasonable) price of £175.

Click here  to book. And enter the following where it says "Promotional Code" to get the 10% discount:

brandgym10

I'll be sharing the latest brandgym thinking and research on brand leadershop, including:

• Create potent ‘insight fuel’ to ignite idea generation
• Develop big brand ideas that energise the whole business
• Turbo charging your marketing plans to get more bang for your buck

I'll reveal inside stories from leading brands, including Tesco, James Bond, Apple and Gillette. The session will have lots of practical tools and tips to help you raise your game in key areas including insight, brand positioning, innovation and internal engagement. And you will leave knowing not only what makes a leading brand, but also what it takes to be a brand leader inside the business.

Hope to see you on the 13th October!

Tesco's "Fresh & Tricky" shows limits of research

Tesco's US launch of its Fresh & Easy chain shows the limits of research, and the benefits of in-market trial. The launch, like any major innovation, has been tricky more than easy. And not helped by the sub-prime financial crisis of course.

The Fresh & Difficult Launch

Four years after launching, cumulative losses of £574 million have been racked up in getting to 214 stores. And wheras at launch reports suggested "Tesco had talked of building a business the size of the core British chain, which is approaching 2,500 stores", former CEO Terry Leahy more recently " hinted at the possibility that the chain could end up being "hundreds" rather than "thousands" stores." Tesco actually "mothballed" 13 stores last year, in an attempt to break even.

And the company is still working on getting a successful retail formula. In an article in the FT the CEO of Fresh & Easy, Tim Mason, said "[What people who don't get it say is] 'You call yourself Fresh & Easy. You're easy but you don't seem to be that fresh.'" Many changes are being tried out in a test store, the report went on to explain.

 

But what about the research?

Now, as Fresh & Easy has had some serious teething problems, you could guess that Tesco had failed to research the US market properly, right? Wrong. According to one case study on the brand,  there was extensive research. Tim Mason was quoted as saying that Fresh & Easy was “An American store designed for American consumers” (Sunday Times, 10 June 2007).

Firstly, there was immersive, in-home study: "Working closely alongside market research agencies, and with camera crews on hand to record events, the executive team visited a range of US consumers, shopped and cooked with them, discussed their food choices and queried their thoughts on diet and health, etc."

Second, and even more impressive, was a sophisticated and secretive process, where Tesco "Built and then stocked a complete mock-up of a potential Fresh & Easy store inside a warehouse, in order to test out a range of possible formats and layouts on American consumers." To keep things under wraps, the case study explains how "Tesco executives had concealed the firm’s market entry plans by posing as film industry moguls building a film set in a West Coast warehouse"!

Now, both these bits of research make a lot of sense, combining immersive work and prototyping. Both of these are much better than classic focus groups.]

However, despite all these research efforts, three and a half years after launch Fresh & Easy is still not performing up to expectations. So, what went wrong?

Real life beats research

The Fresh & Easy story goes to show how research can only get you so far. It is artificial by definition. Its great to show consumers round a Hollywood film-set style store. But this has problems. First, its not in a competitive context where people have lots of other stores trying to tempt them. Second, how honest is the feedback going to be, when people are secretly smuggled into this undercover operation and asked for feedback?!

No, the best form of research is not research at all. Its in-market learning. The FT article lists the following upgrades to the Fresh & Easy stores, which have been created based on in-market learning:

- Flowers moved from inside the store to the entrance

- In-store bakeries in half the stores at least

- More seasonal fresh produce

- Experiments with fresh coffee to take away

Tim Mason sums this process up: "What we have discovered with experience, and the benefit of being open, is that this [the stuff above] is a cost worth adding".

In conclusion, Fresh & Easy's difficult launch shows that no matter how much clever research you do, you can't beat in-market experience. Better to save time and money on research, and get some real in-market learning if its at all possible.

The Andrex Puppy: the ultimate brand property

This year sees the 40th anniversary of the Andrex puppy, which has to be one of the strongest if not the strongest of any brand icons. The golden labrador puppy was first introduced in 1972, having been devised by the ad agency JWT. It has helped Andrex gain and retain market share, with a 32% value share in 2010, in the face of intense competition from own label products.

Here's why its such a powerful marketing asset.

1. Consistency to create memory structure

Having stuck with the puppy for 40 years, Andrex has created and reinforced "memory structure": hard-wired brand associations triggered by the brand property. For many people on a busy shopping trip, they pass past the toilet role fixture and buy Andrex on "auto-pilot", triggered by strong brand recognition.

This has been done by featuring the puppy in advertising to communicate the idea of Andrex being "soft, strong and very long". Below is an example of an ad from the 1980's. And the brand is still using this same idea today, as you can see in ad from 2010 here.

 

2. Combining sausage and sizzle

The Andrex puppy does a great job at communicating both product "Sausage", through being used to demonstrate "soft, strong and long". At the same time, it has a lot of emotional "sizzle" through being soft and cuddly!

3. Activated through the line

The Andrex puppy is a major feature of the packaging of course. But Kimberly Clark have gone much further than this, with other activities including:

- TV advertising (discussed above)

- Strong featuring on the website

- Puppy themes promotional gifts, such as cuddly toys

- "Puppy points" loyalty scheme (with 75,000 members)

4. Freshness

The brand has also managed to keep up to date by finding fresh expressions of the brand property. These include fresh advertising executions. And the brand also has a big facebook following with almost 300,000 people liking the Andrex page.